Study reveals dangerous prescribing practices for Idaho patients on opioids

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A new study says a quarter of chronic opioid users in Idaho were at risk for overdose from unsafe combinations of prescriptions for controlled substances in 2017.

According to research presented at the American Society for Health-System Pharmacists 53rd Midyear Clinical Meeting and Exhibition in Anaheim, California, 44 percent of the dangerous overlapping prescriptions were written by more than one prescriber.

Researchers at Idaho State University say patients with chronic pain are often under the care of several different physicians to manage their different disease states. That co-management can lead to patients receiving unintentional prescription combinations that put them at higher risk for an opioid overdose. The study adds given that 56 percent of the dangerous combinations were intentionally written by the same prescriber, the results also suggest that continued education on appropriate opioid prescribing is warranted.

ISU researchers examined all prescriptions of controlled substances for 302,000 patients that were reported to the Idaho Prescription Drug Monitoring Program in 2017. Anyone who dispenses those drugs, including pharmacists as well as some physicians and other clinicians, is required to report the action to monitoring programs, which are now available in every state and the District of Columbia. Physicians and other prescribers can then access the records before writing new prescriptions to ensure patient safety, though review of the program is not required.

In the Idaho study, a third of the patients receiving a controlled substance were identified as chronic users, meaning they have taken the drugs for more than 90 days without a break of at least seven days. (The REIS Group)

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